Summary: The first in a series on the seven sayings of Christ on the cross.

A person’s last words are important. We hang on to the dying words of those closest to us. We pass on the final words of great leaders for the next generation. It’s as if we are waiting for them to sum everything up in a few final statements.

Some are famous:

Nathan Hale (1755-1776) – "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Conrad N. Hilton (1887-1979) – "Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub."

Saint Lawrence (?-258) – "Turn me. I am roasted on one side."

John Holmes (1812-1899) – "John Rogers did."

Holmes was a U.S. lawyer and brother of O.W. Holmes. Quiet and motionless on deathbed for a long period of time, those assembled in the room suspected that he had died. A nurse checked his pulse, found none, and announced that she would feel his feet to see if they were warm, "If they are, he’s alive. Nobody ever died with warm feet." "John Rogers did," Holmes replied. Rogers was a Prot. martyr who had been burned at the stake.

As he was dying on the cross, Jesus Christ made a few final statements – seven to be exact – that deserve our attention.

• Seven statements from a dying man to a dying world.

• Seven statements that provide insight to a generation searching for answers.

• Seven statements that reveal the heart of the Savior.

These seven statements take place in the context of the cross on which Jesus died.

>>> Background of trials and crucifixion

And as he hangs on the cross, Jesus makes seven final statements before his death.

As we examine these seven statements, we must look at them in context of the story – the story of God’s love for us and our need for Him. In this story, the cross is the means for our reconciliation with God. The cross is about sin / payment / forgiveness. It’s about grace / mercy / love.

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals — one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (NIV)

As sinners, we are God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10). Yet in this state, God provides a way. In this state, Christ made the payment for our sin. And in the state, we see Jesus do something amazing: he prays. In the depth of pain/anguish/misery – he prays.

Scholars have debated whom Jesus was praying for: the Romans / the Jews / the world

But to enter the debate is to miss the point. The debate doesn’t matter – all were against him. And yet when he was hurting most – when those who abused him were standing before him mocking him – when those closest to him were nowhere to be found – he prayed.